Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray are the half-backs, as expected, while hooker Rory Best captains the side next to his front row colleagues Tadhg Furlong and Cian Healy who sneaks in ahead of Jack McGrath.

McGrath will be sitting on the bench next to team-mate Luke McGrath who will act as replacement scrum-half on Saturday.

Joey Carbery has moved ahead of Ian Keatley as Sexton’s back-up, while Sean Cronin’s fine form sees him return to the bench.

John Ryan, Devin Toner and Dan Leavy are the other forward replacements, while Fergus McFadden completes the bench.